No 'blood moon' but WA still gets a show

No blood moon but WA still gets a show - The West Australian

The moon put on quite a show for the world with its lunar eclipse "blood moon" effect last night.

WA may have missed out on the spectacular phenomenon, but experienced the penumbral phase - the rarely seen secondary shadow of an eclipse that is neither as bright nor as visible as the initial phase, according to the Perth Observatory.

Arie Verveer, the observatory's technical manager, said there had been reports of people seeing a big orange moon beneath a big shelf of cloud, but this may not have necessarily been the actual lunar eclipse.

But Mr Verveer said although the State missed out on last night's show, Perth sky-watchers would be able to enjoy the first solar eclipse of 2014 on April 29.

This rare solar event, during which about 50 per cent of the sun would be obscured by the moon, would be visible as a partial eclipse from WA.

A total lunar eclipse would "certainly be visible" from WA on October 8, Mr Verveer said.